The clash of disciplines

[philip_hughes]

I was thinking of the old joke:

"To the optimist, the glass is half full, to the pessimist, the glass is half empty. The engineer says you need a different sized glass."

I thought about it and I realised there is more:

To the chemist, the glass is always full of fluid, to the physicist, the glass is almost all empty space no matter what.

Does this make the chemist the eternal optimist and the physicist the eternal pessimist?

Over to you.

[red assassin]

It isn't empty, it's just full of fields.

[philip_hughes]

It isn't empty, it's just full of fields.

My mind just went to the sound of music, a lady singing and twirling down a field. Tralalalala....

[burger1]

The glass isn't just half full/empty it's full of molecules which means both physics and chemistry. It is also effected by the environment around it. Chemistry is pretty much the science of every thing but physical chemistry pretty much covers a lot of the physics if not all. Physics also overlaps with chemistry. As does math, biology, electronics and engineering.

-molecular forces holding the molecules together

-forces everywhere

-kinetic energy (temperature) so stuff smashing into other stuff

-potential energy

-evaporation and the energy associated with it

-surface tension

-effect of various things interacting with molecules

etc................................................

[pjknibbs]

Obligatory:

https://what-if.xkcd.com/6/

[Jericho]

Obligatory:

https://what-if.xkcd.com/6/

I'm with the pessimist on this one... Every time I look at my watch, I'm 7 minutes closer to the grave.

[RegisterMe]

Without knowing what's in the glass does it matter?

[clakclak]

To a biologist the glass is full of life.

[Redvers Ganderpoke]

I'm with the pessimist on this one... Every time I look at my watch, I'm 7 minutes closer to the grave.

I'd be more worried about looking at my watch every 7 minutes.

[Golden_Gonads]

To the chemist, the glass is always full of fluid.

Why's it have to be fluid? Maybe it's full of nuts. Or Prawns. Mmmm... Prawns...

[Usenko]

To the theologian, the glass is full of God's presence . . .

To the philosopher it is empty of meaning.

[UniTrader]

and for the Surrealist its a Baseball Cap with a Turtle inside

[Alan Phipps]

To the gravitational force researcher, the glass is proof that local gravity is active and is acting with a downwards vector relative to the optimal orientation of the glass.

[Graaf]

When the current glass is empty, I'll just get a new one.

[burger1]

We can't prove that the glass exists.

[Alan Phipps]

"We can't prove that the glass exists." Hmm, does that imply that when the holder anticipates holding a half-filled glass, they also expect the other half to already be on the floor and over their feet? I know some people like that!

[Chips]

To the wine drinker, it's irrelevant - it just needs filling.

[mrbadger]

the glass is always full, it's just not always full of what you want, but that's not the glasses problem.

[Nanook]

In a vacuum, the glass can be full of empty. Ponder that.

[brucewarren]

Or if you've dropped it the vacuum can be full of glass

Of course the glass is both whole and shattered at the same time until someone observes it.